Coachella Uses Google’s DeepMind AI to Test the Future of Live Entertainment

Coachella is turning one of the world’s biggest music festivals into an AI testing ground.

The festival partnered with Google DeepMind at this year’s event to develop and test experimental tools designed to change the way artists create performances and the way fans experience them.

The new experiment focuses on “global models” – AI systems that create digital networks. Coachella’s innovation team spent the 2026 festival creating three prototypes with Google DeepMind’s. Project Genie, global platform for companies.

“We participated in this project while working with their facilities to explore ways in which these facilities can expand and expand the artist’s canvas, give them more tools to show, expand the global infrastructure of the artists on the stage and at home, and make the experience easier and more enjoyable for the fans,” Ryan Cenicola, Coachella’s artistic director, told Decrypt.

One example, called “Turning Performances into Interactive Experiences,” captures live performances and reconstructs them as 3D environments that fans can see. During the first weekend of the festival, the teams filmed lighting, audio, visuals, and crowd movements with artists during the Quasar stage, then recreated the work in Unreal Engine.

Coachella said the technology can create “live archives” of performances that fans can walk through, replay from different perspectives, or view with other visuals created in real time.

“There are ways we look at how fans on the site can interact with the content on the site,” Cenicola said. “Looking forward, with the glass and the transparency of the scene, it’s a place where we think about the species and make it more fun for the fans on the site.”

The second example is a staging tool for artists. The app allows performers to upload or log in to see what the show looks like in 3D versions of the Coachella stages at different times of the day and with different crowd conditions. The goal is to provide limited access to production facilities that are reserved for high-budget artists and teams.

The third project is a mobile game called Coachella vs. The Game, where the players control an astronaut and explore the digital world using the game consoles. The team likened the idea to a game that people might play before going to a museum, giving fans a way to explore the line before arriving at the festival.

“Typically, you’re looking at six to 12 months of development to be able to do really well. And that time has gotten shorter, even since the beginning of this year,” Kevin McMahon, head of Coachella’s innovation partnerships. Decrypt.

When asked why Coachella chose Google DeepMind over competitors like OpenAI or Anthropic, McMahon pointed to the company’s AI tools and relationship with the festival.

“For us, we live in a beautiful world, and they have great pictures,” he said. “We work with them throughout the festival, from our YouTube livestream, which is part of our relationship with Google. We’ve found them to have great models that are easy to use, and they’ve been shipping very quickly. We’re excited to continue exploring with them.”

AI projects build on Coachella’s years of experimenting with new technology to extend the festival beyond the events. In 2024, the festival introduced Coachella Questionsgame on A flood blockchain that allows participants to complete challenges and earn rewards through NFT tokens. That same year, Coachella launched the Avalanche NFT they pass and collections after his previous Solana NFT and FTX contracts collapsed when the crypto exchange he has fallen.

“Events like Coachella Quest were a way for us to light things up and say, ‘Hey, have you thought about this?’—without doing it in a boring way,” McMahon said. “How do we make that happen – the process of research and discovery at the festival – and giving fans a chance to meet each other and say, ‘Oh, you should have seen that thing or collected that thing.’ These exciting challenges are what we continue to find great solutions for. “

Coachella has also invested in virtual reality for live audiences. This year’s AR broadcast will include digital effects that were only seen by an online audience.

Current AI applications have not been publicly established, and remain internal proof of concept. Cenicola said Coachella is reviewing the lessons learned from this year’s festival before deciding what to do next year.

“It’s hard right now to put a solid plan on this,” he said. “We’re in a phase where we’re taking everything we’ve learned from these three tests that we completed last week and working with our team and with DeepMind to figure out what we’re going to do next.”